A farewell to Laos

We are currently in Viantienne, the capital of Laos. We are moving on this afternoon to Bangkok via a bus across the boarder, then a overnight train. Once in Bangkok we travel via bus into Cambodia.

Since we last checked in with everyone we finished our time in Vang Vieng and participated in some of the watersports that they are know well for. We spent a wonderful day kayaking down the river enjoying the beautiful scenery and watching the day to day lives of the local fishermen that live along the banks. Heather and I had our own guide for the day, we even went by his house and got to meet his son. They live 6 people, representing 3 generations of family in a small bamboo framed house with a thatched roof. Very modest accomodations, and he makes a good living as a guide compared to the average local. Other local guides we met take the money they earn and pay for their brothers or sisters education. We had a wonderful day on the water and it was quite a work out as well. It left our arms and back muscles very sore for a couple days.

We also spent a day floating down the river in tubes. It's concidered a right of passage on the South East Asia backpacker circuit to tube down the Vang Vieng. If you havent floated in Laos and gotten the T-shirt, then you are not cool. So we decided to float, even thougth it was overcast and a little cool out. The tubing is very similar to the tubing in Chico. Their is a never ending string of tubes floating down the river and of course the locals being entrepenurial have set up many bars along the side of the river for the backpackers to stop at. The bars have all the usual attractions music, DJ's, and huge, huge, huge rope swings, zip lines, diving platforms, slides, etc.

The first bar is only 100 meters downstream from the starting point. Our Canadian friends started in the mid-morning, floated the 100 meters, got out at the first bar and stayed their till it was dark and had to take a taxi back into town. As you could imagine they were in rough shape but the Canadians seem to be a heartier breed then us when it comes to beer consumption.

We on the other hand made it to the 3rd or 4th bar downstread. Had a few Beer Lao (the only beer in Laos, but at $1 per 22 OZ why not have 3 or 4 for breakfast lunch and dinner) and with some new found Australian and English friends (notice the theme, we have met almost no Americans anywhere so far) we took to the rope swing. Heather went first and lived, this seemed to inspire everyone else to give it a try. It is hard to describe how totally insanely large this rope swing was. It wasnt built off a tree, no that would be too safe and small for this country. It was built off a huge platform made up of bamboo poles, old pallets, and some left over metal scraps for rigidity. After you climb up the 15-20 steps up to the top of the tower and look down you begin to wonder if you have just made a huge mistake. But of course a little liquid courage helps take the edge off. I can now attest to how hard water can be from 20-30 feet up. The impact mabe the bottom of my feet sore and shot water up my nose. It took me an hour or so to get it all out. It also tore Heathers swimsuit top and bottom off. So much fun.

After a couple hours at the bar we decided it would be a good idea to start floating back towards town. After about an hour of floating and seeing the sun setting we realized we might be in a bit of trouble. So with our new found friends from Australia we were able to get a local with a boat to fish us out and take us downstream into town. We gladly paid the $3 he wanted since it was cold and getting dark.

We left Vang Vieng and traveled here to Vientiene. It's the capital city and has to be the smallest capital I have ever been to. Not much to see or do here. We took the oportunity to mail another large package home full of merchandise we have purchased along the way. We also sent another CD home with pictures, so keep your eyes peeled on this website for that. Really Vientiene is stop over for travelers headed north or south.

So now our time in Laos is coming to an end. It has been a great experience and I hope someday to come back. No mix of words can adequately describe how great the people of this country are. It's as if they have something in life that we are missing out on, even though we, as westerners have so many material posessions, an abundance of food, and comparative wealth. It's this intangable spirit and glow within the populace that has made our experience here amazing.